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Lenders don’t require a home inspection – only a home appraisal, so many homebuyers wonder if they need one, especially since it adds to the home’s closing costs.

It’s no secret that buying a home costs a lot of money. Anywhere you can save, you probably want to take advantage of, but don’t let it be the home inspection. Even though an inspection isn’t required, it is worth its weight in gold when you make one of the largest investments of your lifetime – a house.

Lenders need bank statements to make sure you can afford the loan. They need to know if you have enough money for the down payment and closing costs and sometimes even reserves.

If a lender asks to see your bank statements, what do they look for and what don’t they want to see?

Check out our guide below to find out.

If you’re worked your way out of consumer debt and all you have left is your mortgage, you may want to pay it off early. Who doesn’t?

Most people think it’s impossible, especially when they’re looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.

It’s not as hard as you think.

Do any of these 5 things and you too could pay your mortgage off faster.

You hear the term mortgage points and shudder. Who wants to pay them, right?

What if they aren’t as bad as they seem? Yes, they are a fee, but it’s a fee that helps you get a mortgage. They aren’t as bad as everyone makes them seem.

It’s time to learn the truth about mortgage points.

A purchase contract is more than a monetary bid. You and the seller must agree on several other terms, including the purchase contract contingencies.

These ‘conditions’ are important and could make or break your deal. Without contingencies, you could be on the hook for a home you don’t want to buy anymore.

If you back out, you could lose your earnest money. With them, though, some sellers may not accept your offer.

Whether you should consider contingencies is a discussion between you and your attorney, but understanding what they are helps the conversation.

Shopping for a mortgage means you’ll hear many terms and acronyms. Some make sense, like a down payment, and others, like PITI, may make your head spin.

Just what is PITI and how is it calculated?

You want to buy a home, but you’ve heard your debt ratio is too high. What does that mean and how can you fix it?

Lenders take a big risk lending you money to buy a home. They loan money for as long as 30 years, with the expectation that you’ll pay every penny back. What if you can’t? If you lose your job, fall ill, or have financial difficulties, you may fall behind or stop making your payments altogether.

Lenders must pay close attention to your debt ratio to prevent this from happening. While they can’t control what happens in your life, they can control who they lend money to, which is why getting out of debt is important.

COVID-19 has changed the way we do most things, including buying a house. Sellers are cautious about who they let in their house – reserving times for only serious buyers that already did the preliminary work of viewing the home.

So how can you find a home with little to no contact?

Try these tips.

It’s a debate many people have – should you pay off debt or save money? It’s kind of a case of what came first, the chicken or the egg because paying off debt is important, but so is saving money.

No one likes to stay in debt, but most people don’t like not having a savings account either. It’s a double-edged sword, but we’ve got a few words of advice, especially for those looking to buy a home or refinance.